NEW YORK 鈥� Budokon, a workout program developed in 21st century America, blends the ancient mind-body practices of yoga and martial arts into a program that aims to reward followers with conditioning, mindful meditation and progressively coloured karate-type belts.
鈥淏udokon is a yoga, martial arts and meditation trifecta,鈥� said Mimi Rieger, who teaches the not-so-ancient practice in gyms, studios and workshops in the Washington, D.C. area.
An instructor in the 3,000-year-old practice of yoga since 2003, Rieger, founder of Pure Fitness DC, is one of approximately 400 teachers worldwide who are trained in Budokon, which did not exist before 2002.
Although mainly done in the United States, Rieger said she will teach Budokon in Turkey, Denmark and Sweden this year and workshops are also scheduled in London, Germany, Korea and Japan.
She says the hybrid offers the student an intense, full-body workout as it blends the integrity of the martial arts movement with the fluidity of yoga.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like a beautiful symphony of the two,鈥� said Rieger, who is among the first women to get a brown belt in the Budokon sequence of six belts: white, red, blue, purple, brown and black.
Budokon, which is Japanese for 鈥渢he way of the warrior spirit,鈥� began in 2000 as the brainchild of Cameron Shayne, a martial arts expert and yoga enthusiast originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, looking to solve a dilemma faced in his own practice.
鈥淭hrough martial arts, I experienced meditation; both yoga and martial arts share self-reflection, but both suffered from the same disease of being stripped down to a westernized workout,鈥� said Shayne, founder of Budokon University in Miami, Florida.
A typical Budokon session begins with 20 minutes of yoga sun salutations to, as Shayne says, 鈥渓ighten and open the body,鈥� followed by a martial arts segment of explosive, dance-like movement. The end is a guided meditation.
鈥淭here is no breath count; we don鈥檛 stop,鈥� said Shayne, who describes the movements as snakelike. Observers will note echoes of tai chi.
鈥淢odern yoga can be very angular. Our primary series is a circular, continuous transition practice,鈥� he explained.
Adam Sedlack, senior vice president of UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) Gym, a national chain of family fitness centres specializing in mixed martial arts training, believes the novice should begin with a specific practice before tackling hybrids like Budokon.
鈥淚t鈥檚 more efficient to take a karate class, then a yoga class, and then a tai chi class than it is to combine them,鈥� Sedlack said. 鈥淪o the individual can focus on individual skill sets. The beautiful thing about mixed martial arts is that you鈥檙e learning a skill while you鈥檙e working out and burning calories.鈥�
